Rajkot, Dec 16: While the entire country was praying for India’s victory in the see-saw series opener, Man-of-the-Match Virender Sehwag said he was actually supporting Sri Lanka in the high-scoring humdinger.
“I was not tense at all because I was supporting Sri Lanka,” Sehwag said after India staved off Sri Lanka’s spirited response to eke out a narrow three-run win.
“I’ve this superstition that whenever I support India, we lose. So I was supporting Sri Lanka here and was never tense,” explained Sehwag, who hammered a 102-ball 146 with 17 fours and six sixes.
On his personal form, Sehwag said he was trying to bring his ODI record at par with his Test batting and was ready to show restraint early in his innings before going berserk.
“I am in good form. I scored 200 in Tests, 50 in Twenty20 and was telling myself I am in good form I have to utilise it. I knew I have to be careful in the first 10-15 overs and then it would be my day when I can score 100 or more.
“I have been scoring big centuries in Tests but was getting out for 40s and 50s in ODIs. I thought it’s time to convert those starts into big knocks,” he said.
“When Sachin and I were batting, we thought the pitch is good and we can easily cruise to 350. Then MS (Dhoni, who struck a 53-ball 72) really batted well and took the pressure off me by clearing the ropes now and then,” Sehwag said.
“It is my best knock in One-Day Internationals. It is better than the 130 I made earlier,” the Delhi dasher said.
Sehwag was all praise for the pitch and said it also had something for the bowlers as was shown by Ashish Nehra and Zaheer Khan.
“One-day cricket is a batsman’s game. It was a very good one-day wicket. Yet Ashish Nehra bowled 28 to 30 yorkers in his last five overs and Zaheer also bowled a lot of yorkers. That helped us win in the end.”
With Tillakaratne Dilshan (160), Upul Tharanga (67) and Kumar Sangakkara (90) leading Sri Lanka’s reply, fortune often fluctuated and even Dhoni, often called ‘Mr Cool’ for his unflappable nature, felt it was getting tense.
“It’s quite tough to be cool when you score 400 and almost lose it,” Dhoni said.
“In the first 35 overs, we were not really up to the mark. Maybe we just accepted that the wicket had got better or maybe we were not focussed. But the way we bowled and fielded after that, was awesome. Also we could have scored 450, which would have been an ‘above-par’ score,” he said.
India’s continuous sloppy fielding, however, piqued Dhoni, who did not hide his anger at India’s butter-fingered fielders.
“If you don’t take catches from set batsmen you are going to be in trouble. On tracks like this, when you actually need to take those 50-50 chances, you just cannot afford to drop catches from set batsman. If you drop someone like Sehwag or Dilshan or Sangakkara, you are going to be in trouble,” Dhoni said.
Heartbreak
His opposite number Sangakkara said it was heartbreak, but conceded India played slightly better to be on the winning side.
“It is actually worse when you come this close and lose and rather than lose easily. Most of the time you can roll over and die chasing over 400, but we almost made it.
“After 35 overs, we should have batted smartly. India held its nerve better than us. At the end of the day, you have to acknowledge that India played better than us, slightly,” he said, promising to come down hard on the host in the next match.
–PTI